Part 8 (1/2)

”I will think over your suggestion, Mr Theriere,” replied Barbara, ”and I thank you for the generous impulse that has prompted you to befriendso many enemies

What is it, Mr Theriere? What is the matter?”

The officer had turned his eyes casually toward the southeast as the girl spoke, and just now he had given a sudden excla,” he answered ”We're in for a bad blow, and it'll be on us in aback over his shoulder, ”you'd better go below at once”

CHAPTER VII THE TYPHOON

THE storm that struck the Half, apparently, out of a perfectly clear sky Both the lookout and the man at the wheel were ready to take oath that they had scanned the horizon not a half- forward bellowing for all hands on deck and ordering a sailor below to report theconditions to Captain Simms

Before that officer reached the deck Theriere had the entire crew aloft taking in sail; but though they worked with the desperation of doomed men they were only partially successful in their efforts

The sky and sea had assuhty black cloud that raced toward the sound that had followed the first appearance of the storave place to a sullen roar, and then, of a sudden, the thing struck the Half canvas froht froe went theover the starboard boith a noise and jar that rose above the bellowing of the typhoon

Fully half the crew of the Half or were crushed by the crashi+ng weight of the ainst the deck Skipper Si out curses that no one heeded, and orders that there was none to fill

Theriere, on his own responsibility, looked to the hatches Ward with a handful of e, for the jagged butt of the fallen ainst the shi+p's side with such vicious blows that it seemed but a matter of seconds ere it would stave a hole in her

With the uted and tury sea, that was rising tominute This frail makeshi+ft which at best could but keep the vessel's bow into the wind, saving her froh, seeony of suspense preceding the inevitable end That nothing could save them was the second officer's firm belief, nor was he alone in his conviction Not only Simms and Ward, but every experienced sailor on the shi+p felt that the life of the Halfmoon was now but a matter of hours, possibly minutes, while those of lesser experience were equally positive that each succeeding wave must mark the termination of the lives of the vessel and her company

The deck, washed now al tons of storth of the shi+p, had become entirely iet beloaves All semblance of discipline had vanished

For the , terror-ridden beasts, fighting at the hatches with those ould have held theer of each new assault of the sea

Ward and Skipper Si the first to seek the precarious safety below deck Theriere alone of the officers had re his every faculty in the effort to save asthe shi+p in the doing of it Only betaves was the entrance to the otiable, while the forecastle hatch had been abandoned entirely after it had with difficulty been replaced following the retreat of three of the crew to that part of the shi+p

The mucker stood beside Theriere as the latter beat back the men when the seas threatened It was the man's first experience of the kind

Never had he faced death in the courage-blighting forrim harvester assu Thebullies of the forecastle reduced to white-faced, gibbering cowards, clawing and fighting to clier of the cabins, while the ht them off, except as he found it expedient to let them pass him; he alone cool and fearless

Byrne stood as one apart fros of his fellows Once when Theriere happened to glance in his direction the Frenchy to the paralysis of abject cowardice ”The fellow is in a blue funk,” thought the second e hireat wave ca unexpectedly close upon the heels of a lesser one It took Theriere off his guard, threw hi hi and stunned The next ould carry him overboard

Released froht their way into the cabin--only thefirst at the prostrate form of thehiht that the hts and fears; but such was far fro to see if the mate would revive sufficiently to return across the deck before the next wave swept the shi+p It was very interesting--he wondered what odds O'Leary would have laid against the lanced at the open cabin hatch That would never do--the cabin would be flooded with tons of water should the next wave find the hatch still open Billy closed it Then he looked again toward Theriere The

Soripped hih by instinct to do so that no one, Billy himself least of all, would have suspected that the Grand Avenue mucker would have been capable of

Across the deck Theriere was dragging hih to atte back to the cabin hatch The as alulf him, and then rush on across him to tear Theriere fro, watery, chaos of the sea

The mucker saw all this, and in the instant he launched himself toward thehi the thethe watery enemy from her back, the two men were disclosed--Theriere half over the shi+p's side--thedesperately at a huge cleat upon the gunwale

Byrne dragged the mate to the deck, and then slowly and with infinite difficulty across it to the cabin hatch Through it he pushed thethe aperture just as another wave swept the Halfmoon

Theriere was conscious and but little the worse for his experience, though badly bruised He looked at the mucker in astonishment as the two faced each other in the cabin